Esm Co-founder Pleads Innocent

George Mead, the elusive co-founder of bankrupt ESM Government Securities Inc., on Thursday entered a written plea of innocent to Ohio criminal charges.

Mead, the M in ESM, faces 10 counts charging theft by deception and one alleging obstruction of justice in connection with ESM. The failure of the Fort Lauderdale securities dealer led to the collapse last year of Home State Savings Bank, a Cincinnati thrift that engaged in securities transactions with ESM.

Although Mead earlier refused to waive extradition to Ohio, his attorneys said he would surrender to police in Miami on Jan. 3. He didn`t, and law enforcement officers began searching for him in Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

Asked why Mead did not appear previously, defense attorney Samuel I. Burstyn said, ``He didn`t have a legal obligation to do so, and he still doesn`t.``

Mead, however, now wants to resolve the legal matters pending against him, Burstyn said.

Burstyn on Wednesday filed a motion for dismissal of a lawsuit in which he had challenged the constitutionality of the extradition warrant pending against Mead.

Even before the motion arrived, however, U.S. District Judge Lenore Nesbitt in Miami on Wednesday dismissed the lawsuit.

Lawrence Kane, a special prosecutor in Cincinnati, said he expects Mead to appear for booking in Cincinnati early next week.